Wildlife
Reminder: Astoria Bookshop Storytime Event on Sunday Sept 21st!
Just a quick reminder: This coming Sunday, September 21st at 11:30am, I’ll be doing a special Sunday Storytime event at Astoria Bookshop. Specifically, I’ll be reading from my new children’s book Pumpkin Spice, which is out now from Penguin Random House.
Here’s the official description of the event from the Astoria Bookshop site:
Special Sunday Story Time: PUMPKIN SPICE with author Arie Kaplan
Sunday Sep 21st, 2025
11:30 AM-12:15 PM
Family Events
Join us every other Sunday for family storytime! On September 21st we welcome a special guest reader, author Arie Kaplan, with his board book Pumpkin Spice.
A delicious celebration of fall that hits all the senses, complete with a recipe for a homemade pumpkin spice blend! Little ones will love cozying up with this board book and learning all about the delights of autumn.
Stroller parking is available at the front of the store and near the register. Our restroom has a changing table. If you have any accessibility requests, please contact us at least 3 days in advance at events@astoriabookshop.com. Click the RSVP button to get an email reminder.
For more info, click HERE.
And Astoria Bookshop’s address is:
36-19 30th Street (just off 36th Avenue)
Astoria, NY
USA 11106
Pumpkin Spice was written by yours truly and illustrated by the wonderful Monique Dong. The book is out now from Penguin Random House. It’s available at bookstores everywhere, as well as HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Here’s what critics are saying about Pumpkin Spice:
“Dong’s warm, cheerful illustrations enhance the cozy fall vibe…A lightly enjoyable seasonal pick that will find a place in fall displays.”—School Library Journal
“Rich with sensory detail, Pumpkin Spice makes a great introduction to fall for little bookworms.”—Bookstr
“Teachers who teach in early education classrooms will want to add this delightful board book to their collection of fall picture books.”—HubPages
And to see all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House (which don’t involve pumpkins, or gourds of ANY kind, for that matter), click HERE.
Also, here’s a photo of me, which was taken by Carl Kelsch. I’ve included it here so that you can see what I look like. If you’re at Astoria Bookshop on September 21st and the person reading from Pumpkin Spice looks nothing like this, it’s probably not me. Or it’s my understudy. (I mean, in a perfect world, authors WOULD have understudies, right?)
Astoria Bookshop Storytime Event on Sept 21st!
Attention, people of Earth! Er…I mean, people of Queens! Well, actually, people of Astoria, Queens, specifically! On Sunday, September 21st at 11:30am, I’ll be doing a special Sunday Storytime event at Astoria Bookshop. During the event, I’ll be reading from my new children’s book Pumpkin Spice, which is out now from Penguin Random House.
Here’s the official description of the event from the Astoria Bookshop site:
Special Sunday Story Time: PUMPKIN SPICE with author Arie Kaplan
Sunday Sep 21st, 2025
11:30 AM–12:15 PM
Family Events
Join us every other Sunday for family storytime! On September 21st we welcome a special guest reader, author Arie Kaplan, with his board book Pumpkin Spice.
A delicious celebration of fall that hits all the senses, complete with a recipe for a homemade pumpkin spice blend! Little ones will love cozying up with this board book and learning all about the delights of autumn.
Stroller parking is available at the front of the store and near the register. Our restroom has a changing table. If you have any accessibility requests, please contact us at least 3 days in advance at events@astoriabookshop.com. Click the RSVP button to get an email reminder.
For more info, click HERE.
Astoria Bookshop’s address is:
36-19 30th Street
Astoria, NY
USA 11106
Pumpkin Spice was written by yours truly and illustrated by the wonderful Monique Dong. The book is available at bookstores everywhere, as well as HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
And to see all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House (which don’t involve pumpkins, spice, or any combination thereof), click HERE.
Since there’s a while between now and the Storytime event, here’s my headshot (photo by Carl Kelsch), so that you can see what I look like. If you’re at Astoria Bookshop on September 21st and the person reading from Pumpkin Spice looks nothing like this, either it’s not me, or I’ve had pretty drastic plastic surgery.
Flaco Flies Free!
For some time now, I’ve been writing children’s stories for a company called Chapter One. (I talked about it in a few previous blog posts. You can read one of them HERE.) And you can find my stories on the Chapter One website, in the Global Free Library section, which is an online collection of stories and materials that celebrate the world’s diversity.
In my latest Chapter One story, I paid tribute to a great New Yorker. Who is this icon of the Big Apple? Is it James Baldwin? Stephen Sondheim? Whoopi Goldberg? Martin Scorsese? Nope! None of the above. Give up? It’s Flaco the Owl. The story I wrote is called “Flaco Flies Free,” and it was illustrated by the incredible Arantza Valdivia. You can read it right HERE.
And if you scroll down on that page, you can also see a few of the other Chapter One stories I’ve written.
Here’s the official description of “Flaco Flies Free,” from the Chapter One site:
“The story of Flaco the owl, who fled his enclosure in the Central Park Zoo and was determined to survive on his own. In doing so, Flaco has behaved like a classic New Yorker and attracted legions of fans.”
I’ve also made short videos for all of the Chapter One stories I’ve written. In these videos, I explain what inspired me to write the story in question. You can see the “Flaco Flies Free” video once you scroll down after reading the story of the same name. But you can also see the “Flaco” video right here:
And while you’re on the Chapter One site, feel free to also check out the landing page for the Global Free Library.